Do Not Speak Evil Against One Another, Brothers1
James 4
1What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
Quarrels certainly do not come from heaven. If we always acted under the rule of grace, love would create perfect peace at home and abroad.
2You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
Praying is better than fighting. If God will give us what we ask for, why do we feel the need to fight for it?
3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your own passions.
If anyone says that they have prayed and not received, their motive was clearly selfish, and therefore God would not indulge them.
4You adulterous people (who give to worldly things the love that is due to Christ alone)! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (How is it you can love the world and make earthly treasures your great ambition?) 5Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (The Bible’s claim about human’s nature is clearly true. We are selfish and envious by nature; but grace will equip us to conquer the sins that exist in us, if we humbly confess them and ask for help to overcome them.) 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Satan is a coward. Attack him with boldness and he will retreat.
8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. (Mourn over your sin voluntarily or you will have to suffer for it eternally. Mourn at the cross or your weeping will be before the throne on the day of judgment.) 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. (The person who is harsh against another sets themselves up to be a better judge than God. They want to see those punished whom God has not punished. They sits in judgment against God, as though they were wiser than the Judge of all the earth.) 12There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”-- 14yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (To count on living as though we had a guaranteed lease on life is madness. If it is wrong to brag about tomorrow, how foolish is it to scheme and plan far into the future? It is our duty and privilege to live day by day.) 15Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
This should be your regular way of speaking. However, merely saying, “If the Lord wills,” is not measuring up to the apostle’s instruction. The true way to live is to live hour by hour as a person who will soon be called on to give an account for how they lived their life.
16As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
James is concerned that someone might say, “We know all this. We understand that unless God lets us live we cannot do anything.” So he adds, “Do you really understand? Then you have obligated yourself to live that way, because knowledge involves responsibility.”
17So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
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1 James 4:11
Year Two, December 2
Establish Your Hearts, for the Coming of the Lord Is at Hand1
James 5
1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. (The ungodly rich, like the animals, live only for this world. As a result, the time will come, when they will howl in their distress like beaten or wounded beasts. Those who oppress the poor and cause them to weep will themselves weep eternally.) 2Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. (Money acquired unfairly and treasures hoarded have heaven’s curse on them. That kind of wealth is actually accumulated wrath. Who would wish to increase a pile of money that will cause their own flesh to burn?)
4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. (Those who covet are capable of any and every kind of meanness. They will even enrich themselves off the labor of the poor. The Lord of hosts is the Guardian of the needy. He will avenge their wrongs.) 5You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and have murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
7Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. (The rich and powerful who wickedly persecute the righteous will soon be dealt with. The poor despised child of God will soon have their reward.) 9Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. (Wrongs will soon be righted. Let us patiently put up with them a little longer.) 10As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
12But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth, or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. (Our word is our guarantee. Anything beyond that is forbidden. Let us avoid oaths of every kind.)
13Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Use the expert skill available and pray. Medicine and prayer should go together. We call for the doctor and his prescriptions, why not call for the elders and their prayers?
16Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (This is not confessing to a priest, but the mutual acknowledgment of any wrong done to each other.) The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. (There are saints on earth whose prayers are equally effective. Why should we not be like them?)
19My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
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1 James 5:8
Year Two, December 3
Hope Fully on the Grace That Will Be Brought to You at the Revelation of Jesus Christ1
Our present reading is taken from the First Letter of Peter. It is a letter full of a pastor’s teaching. There is no trace of a priestly spirit, much less that of a Pope. Those who quote wicked legends about Peter being the first Pope can find no support for their foolishness in either of Peter’s letters.
1 Peter 1:1-16
1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Christians were not ashamed of the doctrine of election in ancient times, but referred to each other as “the elect.” We are chosen to be holy. Who will deny the Lord the right to choose people for such a purpose? The apostle is certainly right to then bless the Lord for choosing us to receive his grace.
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Notice that the inheritance is kept for the saints and the saints kept for the inheritance. Christ has gone to prepare heaven for us and sent the Holy Spirit to prepare us for heaven.
6In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, (It is not just that we have many troubles in this life, but our hearts are heavy because of them, as if iron weights have been placed into our soul. These trials are meant to chasten us and are a necessary part of our maturing in Christ. If the child does not feel the pain of the rod, then what is the use of it?) 7so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Peter’s Master once told him to feed the sheep2 and he does that here very sweetly. Every word, yes, every letter, is full of an infinite sweetness. Jesus is with us, faith in him is our strength, and his love fills us with inexpressible joy. Do we not experience this on a daily basis?
10Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
13Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (Children should be like their parents. Nature itself motivates the son to imitate the father. Will not grace have the same power? Will not the new birth have even more influence than the first? Will not the children of the holy Jehovah demonstrate something of their great Creator’s spirit and character? It must be so. Otherwise we will have serious reason to doubt whether we are children of God at all.)
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1 1 Peter 1:13
2 John 21:17
Year Two, December 4
If You Suffer for Righteousness’ Sake, You Will Be Blessed1
1 Peter 3
1Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their husbands, 6as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. (A woman’s kingdom is her home, her scepter is love, the jewels in her crown are her accomplishments in the home. She is most graceful who is most gracious and she is best dressed who is clothed with holiness.)
7Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. (Tender love and affectionate honor must be given to the queen of the little kingdom of home, through whom God blesses the family so much.)
8Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. (We cannot wash off dirt with dirt or cure evil with evil. Let us not try to. If we are truly believers, then we are blessed, and there are yet more blessings in store for us. Therefore let us bless others.) 10For
“Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
13Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them nor be troubled, 15but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
We have heard people say, “I would not mind being blamed if I deserved it.” That would be almost laughable, except that if they deserved to be blamed, that should trouble them far more than having their blame pointed out.
18For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
Nobody understands this passage, although some think they do. It is good for us to realize that we do not know everything. The point that is clear is this: As Jesus suffered even though he was innocent, we also must be willing to suffer at the hands of the ungodly.
21Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
Noah in the ark being delivered from the flood, and our baptism, are both pictures of salvation. Both represent a living burial, a passing from the old world into the new, by death and resurrection. Was our baptism the result of a good conscience toward God?
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1 1 Peter 3:14
Year Two, December 5
If Anyone Suffers as a Christian, Let Him Not Be Ashamed1
1 Peter 4
1Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. (We regard the sufferings and death of Jesus to be the sufferings and death we deserved. That is why we cannot love the sin that caused the sufferings he endured for us. “If we have been united with him in a death like his,”2 we must also consider ourselves “dead to sin.”3) 3The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
4With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (New life in Christ makes a marvelous change in a person. What generally happens is that the ungodly see it and immediately begin to persecute the convert. Have we been converted? If so, then we may expect opposition. We do not need to be afraid of it, because the Lord is on our side.) 6For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.
Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ heard the gospel and the result was, their cruel persecutors condemned them to death. By dying for Jesus they glorified God as his witnesses and won for themselves the everlasting crown.
7The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (The Christian poet sings,
“‘Love is gentle, delicate, and kind,
To faults compassionate or blind.”4)
9Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God (trying to give the meaning and spirit of the inspired Scripture); whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies--in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
12Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (By these words and others like them, God spoke through his apostles to persuade these heroes of the cross to endure persecution. They defied death and torture that was worse than death. Do any of us have their same brave spirit?) 14If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18And
“If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
This is a very serious question that needs to be answered by anyone who is still unsaved. Oh sinner, where will you end up on that last Great Day? Be wise and run to Jesus! Enlist on his side no matter what it may cost you. May the Lord lead you to do this.
19Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
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1 1 Peter 4:16
2 Romans 6:5
3 Romans 6:11
2 Romans 6:5
3 Romans 6:11
4 This quote is found in Albert Barnes’ (1798-1870) commentary on this passage.
Year Two, December 6
He Cares for You1
1 Peter 5
1So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder (Peter did not call himself Lord Bishop, much less Head of the Church. Even though he was an apostle, he took the lowest title and called himself an elder.) and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: (This last is best of all. It was an honor to be an elder, and an important distinction to have been an eyewitness of the sufferings of our Lord; but to participate by faith in the coming glory is far beyond both. We are in a most happy situation, because, even though we may not reach the other two, we may all reach the third. If we believe in Jesus we may be “a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.”) 2shepherd the flock of God that is among you (This is what the Lord Jesus instructed Peter to do.2), exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
Pastors may do more by their example than by their sermons. Let us pray for them that they may be kept in the path of integrity.
4And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (In those days slaves would tie on or clothe themselves with white aprons to distinguish themselves from freemen. The original word used here very likely refers to that practice. We are not to act like lords, but stand apron-ed with humility, ready to serve our fellow Christians in a gentle, submissive manner.)
6Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. (If we were the only ones who were tempted by the devil we might be terrified. But since he is the common enemy of all believers, and since each in their turn has defeated him, let us be bold in facing the devil. Let it be said of us as it was of Christian in “Pilgrim’s Progress,”
“The man so bravely played the man
He made the fiend to fly.”)
10And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
12By Silvanus (or Silas), a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. (The most important works of an apostle were to exhort3 and be a witness for Christ; especially be a witness. This is the way Peter fed the sheep and lambs of Christ. If we know the Lord and have experienced his goodness, then we can also exhort and testify for Jesus. Do we?) 13She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14Greet one another with the kiss of love.
Peace to all of you who are in Christ. (This blessing is given to all in Christ Jesus, but to no one else. “‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked.’”4 Those who are outside of Christ share restlessness here and misery forever. Oh Lord, let no one in this family remain without faith in Jesus.)
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1 1 Peter 5:7
2 John 21:16, “[Jesus] said to [Peter], ‘Tend my sheep.’”
3 exhort - implore, beseech, plead, appeal to, urge, encourage.
4 Isaiah 57:21
Year Two, December 7
Confirm Your Calling and Election1
The Second Letter of Peter was written to warn the churches against the evil influence of certain teachers who taught wrong doctrine and led impure lives. Peter’s style is serious and tender. His choice of words is solemn, while he uses impressive imagery.
2 Peter 1
1Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
2May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, (Grace comes to us through knowledge. As we grow in our understanding of God, and of Jesus our Lord, we acquire more grace. We see here the importance of diligent meditation2 and careful study of the Scriptures.) 4by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (Precious faith takes hold of precious promises. The soul rises beyond mere nature into the highest position imaginable. We become like God in holiness and goodness. The phrase, “partakers of the divine nature,” is a very remarkable one. We cannot become divine, but we “may share his holiness.”3)
5For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. (Link these hand in hand as “the young women rejoice in the dance.”4 Or build them one on top of another, like the stones of an arch that give mutual support.) 8For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
You will then enter grace and glory at the height of your journey, and not be like those who “suffer loss” and are “saved, but only as through fire.”5
12Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 13I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.
16For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
19And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, (The witness of Scripture is even more certain than the voice heard “on the holy mountain.” We should value the Bible tremendously and be content, not needing visions and revelations.) 20knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (We must not think of the Bible as a Moses or an Isaiah just giving their private thoughts. It is the revelation of God to all time. It is God’s definite word and it is infallible.6)
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1 2 Peter 1:10
2 meditation - Thinking deeply or focusing one’s mind for a period of time, in silence. Contemplating, thinking, considering, pondering, reflecting.
3 Hebrews 12:10
4 Jeremiah 31:13
5 1 Corinthians 3:15
6 infallible - Incapable of having mistakes or being wrong. Unerring, faultless, flawless, perfect, accurate, dependable, trustworthy, reliable, without error, certain.
Year Two, December 8
Righteousness Delivers From Death1
2 Peter 2
Holy men of old “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”2
1But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8(for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, (Previous judgments are the certain proofs that present sin will also be punished.) 10and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. 14They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
17These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
21For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (The apostles were extremely concerned about believers persevering3 and therefore they cautioned them about the awful results of abandoning the faith. These repeated warnings should make us watchful and lead us to cry mightily to him who is the only one able to keep us from falling. Only divine grace can preserve us from the tempting spirits that surround us on all sides.)
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1 Proverbs 11:4
2 2 Peter 1:21
3 persevering - Staying steadfast in doing something despite difficulty or delay in reaching the goal.
Year Two, December 9
The Day of the Lord Will Come Like a Thief1
2 Peter 3
1This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” (They imply that there is no God, or that if there is he takes no interest in what happens in the world. They suggest that if there is a God, he would surely have come before now to judge his enemies.)
5For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
They intentionally forget that God did judge the world once. It is not true that the world has existed since the beginning of time without God’s involving himself to punish human sin. The world was once destroyed by water and it will soon be overwhelmed by fire.
7But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
8But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
The Lord waits for people to serve him. He gives the human race room to repent. But, sadly, it abuses his great patience!
10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
11Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
14Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (Correct doctrine can be twisted to serve bad purposes. This is not the fault of the doctrine, but of the foolish or wicked minds that misapply it. We must not neglect the study of those great truths that Paul talks about. The people who force them to mean something else are ignorant. We should not be on their side of the disagreement. If we are well acquainted with the deep things of God we will, by God’s grace, be less likely to abuse them.)
17You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
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1 2 Peter 3:10
Year Two, December 10
Indeed Our Fellowship Is With the Father and With His Son Jesus Christ1
The apostle John immediately dives into his subject. He begins by writing about the Word made flesh, Jesus in whom his soul delighted.
1 John 1
1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- 2the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-- 3that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (John is very passionate about the certainty of our Lord’s coming to earth as a human being. He had heard, seen, carefully watched, and even touched him. His appearing was no fantasy or religious legend. It was a definite matter of fact. The one who appeared was none other than Jesus, the eternal life.) 4And we are writing these things so that our joy (and your joy2) may be complete. (Fellowship with Jesus and joy are so close together, that the apostle could aim at both at the same time.)
5This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
These little words contain a treasure house of meaning. What a wonderful sentence: “God is light!”
6If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (The only way we can have fellowship with God is through truth and holiness. The only way sinful creatures like us can have this is through the precious blood of Jesus that cleanses us from sin. Have we all experienced this cleansing?) 8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
God acts only according to the truth. He will meet us as sinners, for that is what we truly are; but if we claim to be innocent, he will not have fellowship with us, because he cannot allow liars in his presence.
1 John 2:1-11
1My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (This one sentence is worth all the kingdoms of the world.) 2He is the propitiation3 for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (He did not die for Jews only. The way of salvation has been opened to the whole world by his atoning blood.) 3And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. (The best evidence that we know Jesus, to ourselves as well as to others, is seen in how we live and how we talk.) 4Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
7Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. (In one sense, love your neighbor is an old command. The last half of the ten commandments makes this clear. But the gospel puts it in a new light at the foot of the cross. We now have new and stronger reasons to fulfill the old command.)
9Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (Hatred is darkness. Love is light. The person who wants revenge has only eternal midnight before them. Let us remove all anger, spite, and envy from us, because these are evils of the darkest kind.)
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1 1 John 1:3
2 ESV footnote: Some manuscripts your
3 propitiation - The act of satisfying someone’s demands and changing that someone from an enemy into a friend. When Jesus Christ died on the cross he satisfied the demand of God the Father that a sacrifice for sin must be made to him. The wrath or anger of God was used up on Christ so that God’s justice was satisfied and we who were once the enemies of God became his friends.
Year Two, December 11
You Have Been Anointed by the Holy One1
1 John 2:12-28
12 I am writing to you, little children,
because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake
Little children have sins. They need to be forgiven and they may be forgiven right now. Should not every child go to Jesus and ask to be washed in his precious blood? To be little children in Jesus Christ is a great privilege. The word of God is as much for them as for the older saints.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
These well-trained saints have a deeper knowledge of their Lord. We expect them to pay closer attention to his word and practice it more perfectly.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
These young men are the finest of the army of the Lord of hosts. They have already been victorious and the apostle calls on them to win new battles. The Spirit of God has work for believers in all stages of the divine life.
I write to you, children,
because you know the Father.
14 I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
15Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
We may use the world, but we must not love it. Loving the world is turning our backs on the love of God.
16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and of life (or pride in possessions)—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
18Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. (The spirit of antichrist shows itself in many ways and is present in every age. Everything that robs Christ of his glory is anti-Christian.) 19They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. (Bad teachers leave the church of God because they never really belonged to it. When they go over to a church that does not preach salvation by Jesus’ blood alone, they are only going to their true home.) 20But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. (A faith that practices the truth is the best defense against error.)
21I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? (This is the greatest of all falsehoods. It insults both the Father and the Son by questioning their testimony.) This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. (You cannot find a better gospel. So continue faithful in what you already know.) 25And this is the promise that he made to us--eternal life.
26I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.
28And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. (John is full of love for these converts and pleads with them to never desert the Lord or listen to the false gospels that would lead them astray. May this family be always true to Jesus, to the gospel, and to holy living. May none of us ever be deceived by false doctrine or tempted into sin.)
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1 1 John 2:20
Year Two, December 12
Beloved, We Are God’s Children Now1
1 John 3
1See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
4Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. (We understand this means not that believers are perfectly free from sinning, but that they do not sin habitually, willfully, and openly like as do those who are not born again. Christians live holy lives and when faults occur they grieve over them. The river of their lives runs toward righteousness, and though there are eddies that move against the current they do not affect the main current.)
7Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
They cannot sin with their whole heart, or continuously, or finally, or as their normal way of living. Sin is not their lifestyle, nor their delight.
10By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
11For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. (The beloved John seems to breathe out only love. Like the harp of Anacreon his heart sang of “love alone.”)2 12We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. (The world’s hatred has existed from the beginning. The very first person who died—Abel—was martyred for the faith.) 14We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
The person whose religion consists of words only is a hypocrite and deserves to be sneered at by all mankind. Above all things let us be genuine in everything we do.
19By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
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1 1 John 3:2
2 These are references to the Greek poet Anacreon (582 BC - 485 BC)
Year Two, December 13
God Is Love1
1 John 4
1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (This is a very useful test in many cases. If any teaching denies or dishonors the Godhead or Messiahship of the Lord Jesus, or calls his coming to earth as a man a myth, then it should be rejected with disgust. Errors regarding the person or work of Jesus are deadly.)
4Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (We know that every teaching that does not include Jesus or dishonors him in any way is the spirit of error. This test is very simple, but very accurate.)
7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.
Love is the divine law of life. Selfishness is sin. When grace restores us to our proper relationship with God and his creation, love becomes the natural tendency of our renewed nature.
9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation2 for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (The main motive for being unselfish is the love of God. God’s children can be identified by their kindness.) 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
13By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
Fear feeds on the punishment it deserves. Those who are afraid have no rest. Perfect love assures the soul that sin has been pardoned. Those who have been “perfected in love” have hearts at joyful rest.
19We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
An old Latin writer says, “Our eyes lead the way in love.”3 Juvenal4 wondered how someone could love a person he had never seen. If, then, we do not love those we can see, is it likely that we really love the invisible God?
21And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (A Christian is one who has tremendous respect for the commands of God. That is why they work hard to abound in acts and words of love. The Lord has told them to do so.)
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1 1 John 4:16
2 propitiation - The act of satisfying someone’s demands and changing that someone from an enemy into a friend. When Jesus Christ died on the cross he satisfied the demand of God the Father that a sacrifice for sin must be made to him. The wrath or anger of God was used up on Christ so that God’s justice was satisfied and we who were once the enemies of God became his friends.
3 Source unknown.
4 Juvenal was a Roman poet who lived in the late 1st and early 2nd century AD.
Year Two, December 14
Everyone Who Believes That Jesus Is the Christ Has Been Born of God1
1 John 5
1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (Do you believe in Jesus? Do you love your Lord? Then you are born again.) 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (Obedience proves that faith really exists, especially obedience to the command that tells us to love. It is useless to talk about being saved if we are not living for God.) 4For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Faith, then, is the certain evidence of the new birth. If we believe in the Lord Jesus we are born again, and we will overcome the world.
6This is he who came by water and blood--Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. (Cleansing us from the power of sin and delivering us from its guilt.) And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7For there are three that testify: 8the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. (Instead of having other signs from heaven, the church has three permanent miracles. They are the active work of the Holy Spirit, the purifying influence of the gospel, and the peace the atonement provides. If there is no power of the Holy Spirit, no sanctification, and no pardon of sin, then our religion is a delusion. But if these are facts, and they most certainly are, our faith stands on solid ground.)
9If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life, whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
You do believe, but you can believe even more. “Lord, increase our faith,”2 is not an unnecessary prayer.
14And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
Answers to prayer are powerful building blocks for increasing our faith. The God who listens to our prayers is not a fairy tale.
16If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life--to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. 17All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
18We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. (Whatever the unpardonable sin may be, the child of God shall be kept from it. We need not curiously inquire what that dark crime may be; it will be better to follow our Lord, and we shall be preserved from it.)
19We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
20And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
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1 1 John 5:1
2 Luke 17:5
Year Two, December 15
This Is Love, That We Walk According to His Commandments1
We have here a letter to a lady and her godly family, for whom John felt a special Christian fondness. We do not know her name and it does not matter, because this letter applies to any believing family.
2 John
1The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:
This is a personal letter. John does not mention that he is an apostle, but writes more from his position as a pastor of the church. The lady he to whom wrote was known by many and loved by all who loved the truth. The best and purest love is the result of accepting the good news of Jesus into our life. Happy is that family that has gained the love of the saints by its devotion to God.
3Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.
May the Lord pronounce a blessing like this on this family and we will be rich indeed.
4I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. (The grand old man’s heart was comforted more by seeing a family living as Christians than by anything else this side of heaven. How good and how pleasant it is to see a family loving the Lord.) 5And now I ask you, dear lady--not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning--that we love one another. (John harps sweetly on this string. He was such an old man that no one would misunderstand his words of affection.) 6For this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. (To love is to obey Christ. “Be holy”2 is the oldest command of the church. All lovers of God obey it.)
7For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. (The world is bad enough, but Satan brings deceivers into it and tries to make it worse through their errors. Those who doubt and question God and his church are praised and embraced by the world, but they should not be admired by those who stand for the truth.) 8Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. (Faithful pastors fear for their converts that they might disappoint them by not remaining firm in the truth. If they go over to the side of error, their pastor’s work comes to nothing.)
9Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. (The person who helps and cooperates with a theft cannot be an honest person. The person who encourages a false teacher shares in their crime.)
12Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. (Sometimes words of warning are better spoken than written. In some cases it is wise to take even a long trip to warn friends against cunning, harmful error.)
13The children of your elect sister greet you.
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1 2 John 1:6
2 Leviticus 11:44
Year Two, December 16
Whoever Does Good Is From God1
Old Master Trapp says John wrote this letter “to a rich Corinthian, rich in this world and rich in good works. A rare bird anywhere, but especially at Corinth, where Paul found them far behind the poor Macedonians in works of charity.”2
3 John
1The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.
2Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. (This is not a blessing many would be comfortable with. If their bodies thrived only as their souls do, many would die, and most professors of Christianity would be weak, poor, sick, and pathetic.) 3For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. (John loved his converts like they were his own children. He was glad when he found them correct in doctrine and practice. What would he say about the doubting of many in the church today? It would break the good man’s heart. God’s people should hold on to the truth more firmly than ever, because many, including many church attendees, idolize clever skepticism.)
5Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, 6who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. 7For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.
Gaius kept his home open for traveling preachers and poor saints. One of the greatest honors we can have is to entertain a servant of the Lord. The Master considers it as done to himself.
8Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. (Gaius could not preach, but he gave help to those who did. By doing so he gained a prophet’s reward.)
9I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. (What! Did people speak against the beloved John? Then none of us can hope to remain faithful and escape opposition. We are amazed that such a poor creature as Diotrephes would oppose the great apostle and question his authority. We must pay attention and be careful that we do not imitate him by grieving any of the Lord’s ministers.)
11Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. 12Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.
John disapproved one, but complimented another. Where there is a Diotrephes there is generally a Demetrius. The Lord offsets the evil of one by the good of another. Otherwise, churches could not survive.
13I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. 14I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. (Say little and write less. Speaking is better than writing, especially from preachers. Most pastors would do well to preach as the Lord gives them words and not try to be writers.)
15Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.
Christianity is interactive and courteous. Let us not fail to be kind in both our words and deeds.
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1 3 John 1:11
2 John Trapp (1601-1669). English Puritan.
Year Two, December 17
Contend for the Faith That Was Once for All Delivered to the Saints1
The Letter of Jude
1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
2May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
3Beloved, although I was very eager to write you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Errors crept into the churches even while the apostles were still alive. Therefore, we should not be surprised ungodliness has multiplied in these last days. We must set our faces like a flint against them.2
5Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day-- (If those who profess to be Christians leave the gospel for unholy doctrine and impure living, then he who threw out the angels because of their sin will not spare them.) 7just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
8Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” (We do not know when this happened, but the lesson is clear enough: Use gentle speech.) 10But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. 12These are hidden reefs (or, dangerous obstacles) at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, looking after themselves, waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
14It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.
17But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22And have mercy on those who doubt; 23save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. (Those who are in error are not all equally guilty. Some are deceivers and others are deceived. We must save all we can, but we must not ignore their sin. Tolerating error is cruelty to souls.)
24Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
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1 Jude 1:3
2 Isaiah 50:7, “I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.” Flint is a hard dark rock. To set one’s face like flint means to be very determined against all obstacles.
Year Two, December 18
Behold, He Is Coming With the Clouds1
Andrew Fuller said this about the mysterious book of The Revelation to John: “Revelation is to the New Testament church what the pillar of the cloud was to the church in the wilderness. It guides it through the maze of anti-Christian error and immorality. It must not be neglected under the excuse that it is difficult to understand. That would be like the mariner surrounded by rocks refusing to use his helpful chart because he thinks it is hard to follow.”2
Revelation 1
1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
“To persuade us to give this book our most serious attention, a blessing is pronounced on those who ‘read,’ ‘hear,’ and ‘keep,’ the words of this prophecy, especially because the time of its fulfillment was at hand. There does not appear to be any other part of Scripture that is introduced with such an incentive to read, and understand, and put its contents into practice.”3
4John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
9I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
John does not mention that he had been exiled to Patmos by the persecutor. True goodness never boasts or even invites others to admire it.
10I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
12Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14The hairs of his head were white, like wool, as white as snow (to indicate that he is the Ancient of days4). His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. (He was overwhelmed by the glory of his Lord’s appearance. We are still incapable of beholding the full blaze of the Redeemer’s glory. “This perishable body must put on the imperishable”5 before we can be able to endure the sight.) But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
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1 Revelation 1:7
2 Andrew Fuller (1754-1815). Baptist minister and author of a two volume work on Expository Discourses on the Book of Revelation.
3 ibid
4 Daniel 7:9, “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.”
5 1 Corinthians 15:53
Year Two, December 19
To the One Who Conquers I Will Give Some of the Hidden Manna1
Revelation 2:1-17
1“To the angel (messenger or minister) of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
2“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. (The Ephesian church was patient in labor, but impatient when it came to error. They held an honored place. Would to God that all believers were in as good a condition as the Ephesians were.)
4“‘But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. (The Lord does not say “lost the love” as if they had misplaced it and it was hardly their fault, but they had “abandoned” it, or departed from it. We should love Jesus better as we grow older and as we know more about him. To weaken in love to him is to dishonor him.) 5Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you, and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.’”
The Nicolaitans were probably preaching freedom to be sexually immoral under the pretense that it was spiritually acceptable, like certain cruel sects in America.2 The Lord hates sexual impurity.
7“‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’”
The description of this first blessing is taken from paradise. Grace can restore to us the blessings of the Garden of Eden.
8“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.
9“‘I know your tribulations and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. (The church in Smyrna was greatly persecuted, but remained faithful. It has been called “sweet-smelling Smyrna, the poorest and the purest of the seven.”3) 10Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’ (They may die once, but not twice. They will inherit life eternal.)
12“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.
13“‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.’”
This church was faithful to the name of Jesus, but there were still evils within it.
14“‘But I have a few things against you; you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. 15So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. (Jesus will not tolerate filthiness in a church. He would sooner go to war with it than tolerate its sin.) 17He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’”
Cumming says, “This is the same as a victorious acquittal. When Paul says, in Acts 26:10, ‘I cast my vote against them,’ the translation is literally, ‘I cast my stone against them.’ That is, ‘I place my black stone in the jar, indicating my vote for their condemnation.’ Our blessed Lord says, ‘I will put a white stone in your jar.’ That is, ‘I will pronounce you acquitted at the judgment seat, justified and accepted in me.’”4
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1 Revelation 2:17
2 Spurgeon may have been including the Mormons in this statement, who, at that time, practiced polygamy.
3 Source of quote uncertain. Robert William Forrest, in his 1869 work titled The Faithful Witness refers to it as coming from “the old commentator.”
4 John Cumming (1807-1881) Scottish clergyman. Quote is most likely taken from his two volume work, Apocalyptic Sketches.
Year Two, December 20
Hold Fast What You Have Until I Come1
Revelation 2:18-29
18“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
19“‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.’”
This church grew better and better and did more and more for the Lord. Progress should be the continual habit of a church of God.
20“‘But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, 23and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. (There was probably a group in the church that was led by a woman and taught that sins of the flesh could be satisfied without doing evil. The Lord is most jealous of the purity of his church. Those who come into her and teach sexual immorality must expect punishment fitting the crime. No church should put up with this. They should toss them out at once.)
24“‘But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. 25Only hold fast what you have until I come. 26The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 28And I will give him the morning star. (The greatest conqueror is the person who overcomes sin. They will not only defeat the world, but will win the glory of heaven’s eternal day. Jesus, the morning star, has shone on them and the dawning of their victory must be close.)
29“‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” (Ears are meant to hear with, but some have lost all power to hear the voice of the Spirit. If grace has opened our ear, let us pay attention to every word that the Spirit speaks.)
Revelation 3:1-6
1“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (Most of the members of the church in Sardis kept up the routine of going to church, but were hypocrites. Still, the church kept up its reputation and it does not appear that any serious false teaching needed to be dealt with. A fruit may appear beautiful on the outside and yet be rotten on the inside.) 2Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. 4Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. (The Lord does not punish the righteous with the wicked. He recognizes the pure in heart and separates them from the unholy. Are we counted with those whose garments are clean?)
5“‘The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. (This is a superior reward. We are to be clothed like our Lord and to be his own. Who will not fight on until they conquer when such a prize is set before them?) 6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” (We are not to hear what the churches say to us, but what the Spirit says to the churches. Do not be satisfied with echoes. Listen to the marvelous original.)
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1 Revelation 2:25
Year Two, December 21
Those Whom I Love, I Reprove and Discipline1
Revelation 3:7-22
7“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
8“‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.’”
Sometimes the weakest may be the best. We will not have to answer for the strength that we do not have. The Lord will honor us if we are” faithful in a very little.”2
9“‘Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you. (The bitterest enemies of those who are loved by God will be forced to honor them.) 10Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. 11I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.’”
You have been found faithful, therefore you have a crown. Never lose it!
12“‘The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. (Many nations have inscribed their victories on giant pillars. In much the same way, the faithful bear witness of divine love to the ages. Happy is the person whose name is etched forever to their Lord’s glory.) 13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
14“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The word of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
15“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. (Being lukewarm in our service to the Lord is nauseous to him. The bad may be recovered, but those who are neither one thing nor the other are in a hopeless condition. They are too full of conceit to be led to repentance.) 17For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.’”
When gentle warning does not work, the Lord will use stronger methods with his chosen. He will not let them sleep on in indifference.
20“‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and eat with him, and he with me. (Jesus seeks fellowship with the church as the best way of restoring her. Fellowship with Jesus makes the heart burn with love and successfully chases away the lukewarm spirit.) 21The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
If our love for Jesus is getting chilly, let us listen to this serious warning. It will be terrible for us if we ever come to the point where our Lord rejects us because of a lukewarm attitude. A lukewarm heart is a common sin, it is all around us, and we are easily led into it. Therefore, let us pray for more grace. Above all, let us open our hearts wide for Jesus to come in. One spiritual feast with Jesus will be of more use to us than all the groaning and moaning in the world. Come, Lord Jesus, and dine with us even now!
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1 Revelation 3:19
2 Luke 16:10, Jesus said, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”
Year Two, December 22
Around the Throne Was a Rainbow1
Revelation 4
1After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper (a type of quartz, rich and brilliant in color) and carnelian (a semiprecious stone of blood red color), and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. (To keep the brightness of the jasper and the fiery justice symbolized by the carnelian from distracting faith from looking to the throne, the throne is surrounded by the covenant rainbow, in which the dominate color is gentle green, the banner of mercy.)
4Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. (These elders represent the church glorified in heaven. They are royal ones, for they are crowned. They are priestly ones and therefore clothed in white. “You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God.”2) 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.
And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: (The four living creatures probably represent some high-ranking order of beings that are very close to God and serve him with great care and eagerness. Perhaps these creatures were cherubim and seraphim, representing an order of angels that had risen to greater nearness to God.) 7the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
9And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
Adoration is the employment of heaven and there is no work we could want that is more honorable or delightful. How happy we will be when we too stand and bow before the throne with that mighty congregation.
Revelation 5
1Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
The scroll was full and written on both sides. The writing represents God’s eternal plan.
2And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. (He is filled with all power, all wisdom, and the fullness of the Holy Spirit.) 7And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.
No man knows the Father except the Son and only the Son can reveal the decisions of Jehovah.3
8And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
The Lamb is proclaimed here to be God, because only God can be adored like this. Jesus, our Savior, is most certainly “God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”4
11Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
13And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
14And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Does all creation worship Jesus? Then let us adore him too! Oh for warm hearts to praise his precious name. All hail Lord Jesus! Our very souls worship you with humble and most loving reverence.
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1 Revelation 4:3
2 Revelation 5:10
3 Luke 10:22, Jesus said, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
4 Romans 9:5
Year Two, December 23
God Will Wipe Away Every Tear From Their Eyes1
Revelation 7
1After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” (No leaf will stir, nor ripple rise, until the redeemed are sealed and saved. God’s agents of destruction will lie down like lions in their dens until the elect are safe. And then, they will go forth to destroy the ungodly.) 4And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
The Lord knows his own, the number of the redeemed is not left to chance. “Out of the anguish of his soul [Jesus] shall see and be satisfied.”2 The number 144,000 is used to represent the Jewish church and is used to indicate greatness, preciseness, and completeness.
5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
Benjamin comes last, but not least. The smallest tribe is just as favored as royal Judah or fruitful Manasseh.
9After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (The Lord has a chosen people among Gentiles as well as Jews. They are seen here waving the palm branches of victory and wearing the robes of purity while they chant the song of sovereign grace.)
11And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (They use seven words of honor, because they give perfect praise to both the Lord God and the Lamb. No one in heaven denies the Deity of the Lord Jesus.)
13Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
What magnificent poetry and yet every word is true! It makes one weep for joy to read this passage. But what a greater joy it must be to actually enjoy such blessings! Will we all be among that favored multitude? Are we quite sure?
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1 Revelation 7:17
2 Isaiah 53:11
Year Two, December 24
Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon the Great1
Revelation 14:6-20
6Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. 7And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (The gospel will one day be preached in every part of the world. The day will come when the Holy Spirit will awaken the missionary spirit and many will go forth to preach the word -- if only that time was already here. Cannot each of us do something to speed it up?)
8Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.” (The Babylon of Popery will soon fall when the gospel is proclaimed around the world. She senses this, and therefore tries to keep her victims from knowing the way of salvation.2)
9And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
It will be a dreadful thing to be identified with Popery in any way. The warning given here is most terrible. Let us flee from every form of Popery, as Lot fled out of Sodom.
12Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. (Countless thousands were martyred by the Church of Rome, but their blood will be avenged.)
13And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
Their persecutors cursed them, but the Lord writes them down as blessed. Their works will live on to bless future generations. “To die for the Lord, as well as in the Lord, is,” says Latimer,3 “the greatest promotion in the world.”
14Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 16So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped. (Jesus will not assign even an angel to gather in his wheat, he brings his people into his storehouse in person.)
17Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” (This is the judgment of the ungodly. This work is left to an angel, who cuts them off roughly when they are ripe for vengeance.) 19So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw in into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia (about 184 miles).
The total crushing of the wicked is shown by this terrible image, with a special allusion to the persecuting Church of Rome. Foxe4 tells us that the Papists boasted that they would ride up to their saddle-girths5 in the blood of the Lutherans. How terribly will the Lord punish cruelty!
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1 Revelation 14:8
2 Throughout this reading and the next two, Spurgeon equates the Roman Catholic Church with the Babylon of The Revelation. This was the popular view of his day and books were written on the subject. It is not so popular in the 21st century, but who is to say if Spurgeon may be right? The Last Great Day will tell.—ed
3 Hugh Latimer (1485-1555). An active participant in the Protestant Reformation, he died a martyr, being burned at the stake for his faith.
4 John Foxe (1517-1587) His multi-volume work, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, details the lives, sufferings and triumphant martyrdoms of early Christians.
5 saddle girth - The leather belt that goes around the midsection of the horse to hold the saddle in place.
Year Two, December 25
[Friends who wish for a special passage for Christmas should read the portion for Year Two, March 26. —CHS]
The Mystery of Lawlessness Is Already at Work1
Among others visions, John was favored to see the destruction of the evil system of Antichrist. It was described to him using the picture of an immoral and guilty woman. I believe this mother of prostitutes is the Church of Rome. Certainly there is nothing on earth that comes so close to this description and it is difficult to imagine any organization in the future that could satisfy this prophecy more accurately.
Revelation 17:3-18
3And he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. (Names of blasphemy are abundant in that church whose leader dares to call himself INFALLIBLE.) 4The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. (Dr. Wordsworth remarks that in the description of the Pope’s official dress, mention is made of scarlet robes, a vest covered with pearls, and a mitre adorned with gold and precious stones.2) 5And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.”
These words are like a photograph of the Papacy. No portrait could be more accurate.
6And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
When I saw her, I marveled greatly. 7But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 8The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. (Many believe the beast is the old imperial power of Rome, a richly decorated horse on which religious power rode.) And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. (God’s own chosen cannot be fooled by her, but countless millions of others are.)
9“This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; (Every schoolchild knows that Rome is built on seven hills.) 10they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 11As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. (Many interpretations have been given of this passage, but, to us, none of them seems to be clear.) 12And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. 13These are of one mind and hand over their power and authority to the beast.”
These are probably the kingdoms that arose when the old Roman empire broke up. They all became subject to the power of the Roman Church.
14“They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
15And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. 16And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, 17for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.”
The Papacy will perish by the hands of the kings who once supported it. Its power over governments has already been cut back and the rulers of almost every nation are determined to rein in its overbearing influence.
18“And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.” (This must be Rome. No other city has used such imperial authority and made the kings of the earth her subjects. May the fall of Romanism be speedy and overwhelming.)
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1 2 Thessalonians 2:7
2 Believed to be from an essay titled, Union with Rome, published in 1866 by Christopher Wordsworth.
Year Two, December 26
Come Out of Her, My People1
Revelation 18:4-5; 8-13; 15-21; 24
4Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
“Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues;”
Reject the images and emblems of Rome, hate her doctrines, and avoid her way of thinking. Come out, completely out.
5 “for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
and God has remembered her iniquities.”
8 “For this reason her plagues will come in a single day,
death and mourning and famine,
and she will be burned up with fire;
for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”
Judgment without warning usually follows those who treat others severely. Rome will be spared until her huge measure of sin is full, but not a moment longer. That time must come in the near future, because it is hardly possible to imagine a system more wicked than popery and especially that order so infamous for persecuting the church of God. Where is the justice of God if a criminal as disgusting as the Church of Rome is not clearly punished? Her end will astonish all mankind.
9And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. 10They will stand far off, in fear of her torment and say,
“Alas! Alas! You great city,
you mighty city, Babylon!
For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
The destruction of such an imperial system will astonish kings, but they will be both unable and unwilling to interfere.
11And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls. (Go into any of the rich Popish churches and see whether this is not an exact inventory of what is to be seen there. It reads like an appraiser’s list. When all these things are no longer used in Popish worship it will make a great difference to businesses, and that is why “the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her.”)
15The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,
11And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls. (Go into any of the rich Popish churches and see whether this is not an exact inventory of what is to be seen there. It reads like an appraiser’s list. When all these things are no longer used in Popish worship it will make a great difference to businesses, and that is why “the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her.”)
15The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,
16 “Alas, alas, for the great city
that was clothed in fine linen,
in purple and scarlet,
adorned with gold,
with jewels, and with pearls!
17 For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.”
And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning,
“What city was like the great city?”
In the middle ages foreign trade was greatly increased because of the extravagant taste of the Popish Church. No wonder shipmasters and mariners moan at her fall.
19And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,
“Alas, alas, for the great city
where all who had ships at sea
grew rich by her wealth!
For in a single hour she has been laid waste.
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven,
and you saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has given judgment for you against her!”
Merchants and shipmasters mourn, but saints and angels sing. Oh Lord, how long will it be before this desired end comes?
21Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
“So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence,
and will be found no more.”
24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
and of all who have been slain on earth.”
This is her monster sin. The Church of Rome is fundamentally a persecuting system. She has been eager for the blood of the faithful people of God in every land. And she boasts that she never changes! Her doom is sealed, and glory be to God for it. The sooner such a system, with all its belongings, is swept from off the face of the earth, the better.
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1 Revelation 18:4
Year Two, December 27
Hallelujah! For the Lord Our God the Almighty Reigns1
Revelation 19
1After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2 for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
3Once more they cried out,
“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”
4And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” (When wickedness is completely defeated heaven will be filled with great gladness and God will receive new glory. Let us pray for this daily.) 5And from the throne came a voice saying,
“Praise our God,
all you his servants,
you who fear him,
small and great.”
6Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
After the false church is overthrown, the true church is revealed, and her time of glory comes.
8 it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”--
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
9And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
11Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. (The revealing of the true church is followed by the complete victory of her King and his heavenly armies.) 12His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
17Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, 18to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”
The birds of prey were called on to devour the dead. Those who fight against Jesus will most certainly perish.
19And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 20And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. (However many or powerful the enemies of Jesus are, they must fall. Therefore let us be of good courage, and push forward in his name.)
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1 Revelation 19:6
Year Two, December 28
Blessed and Holy Is the One Who Shares in the First Resurrection1
Revelation 20
1Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
Is not this a prophecy that a time is coming when God will put the activity of Satan on hold? It will be for a period of one thousand years, which is usually called the millennium, and it will be a time of peace and holiness. Praise God, the Prince of Darkness is under the power of the Prince of Light. He will not always be victorious.
4Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. (Surely this is a literal resurrection. Clearly the sanctified dead will rise before the wicked. Let us make the effort necessary to be part of this first resurrection.)
7And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Satan will come out of his prison unchanged. Hell is not intended to change a person. But Satan’s determined pride will not help him succeed. The furious struggle of the armies of evil will be useless. Satan must feel the terror of divine wrath.
11Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. (Good works will be mentioned as proof of grace and evil works as evidence of unbelief. This makes our daily activities a very serious matter. What will happen to us when we are “weighed in the balances”?2) 14Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
When, shriveling like a parched scroll,
The flaming heavens together roll,
When louder yet and yet more dread
Sound the high trump that wakes the dead;
Oh, on that day, that wrathful day,
When man to judgment wakes from clay,
Be thou, O Christ, the sinner’s stay
Though earth and heaven shall pass away.3
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1 Revelation 20:6
2 Daniel 5:27
3 Attributed to Walter Scott (1771-1832).
Year Two, December 29
Death Shall Be No More, Neither Shall There Be Mourning, nor Crying1
Revelation 21:1-12; 14-16; 18-19; 21-27
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (After the general judgment comes the full glory of the church, which is here represented as a heavenly city, or a bride in her marriage dress.) 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
9Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. (John’s vision of this city was like a blinding light in brightness. Never before had human eyes looked on anything so dazzling.) 12It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed.
14And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16The city lies foursquare; its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia (about 1,380 miles2). Its length and width and height are equal.
The vision was unimaginably grand. The buildings rose so high that the city was as high as it was wide. But this was only a glimpse of the incredible vastness and greatness of the new Jerusalem. The number of the redeemed must be extremely large to need such a dwelling place.
18The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19aThe foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel.
21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. (The unutterable splendor and grandeur of the church victorious blazes before us in these dazzling figures of speech.)
22And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24By its light will the nations walk and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25and its gates will never be shut by day--and there will be no night there. 26They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Falsehood is repeatedly branded as a dreadful sin in this chapter! This should warn us to be truthful in all things, for fear of being shut out of heaven.
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1 Revelation 21:4
2 This estimate of 1,380 miles is from a footnote in the ESV text. Spurgeon had noted 375 miles.
Year Two, December 30
Surely I Am Coming Soon. Amen1
Revelation 22
1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city; (There is a river in the new Eden as there was in the old. But it does not come up from the springs of the earth, its source is the throne of God.) also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
The old Eden had only one tree of life, but in the new Jerusalem this tree is common. This prevents the possibility of disease and death from ever invading that happy city. In their fallen state mankind is not permitted to eat of the tree's immortal fruit, but restored people will feast on it freely.
3No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. 6And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
7“And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” (How few are watching for the Lord’s coming! How many ignore these things as if they were mere dreams or things so far into the future they are not worth thinking about.)
8I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, 9but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
10And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
There is no hope for anyone to change for the better in the next life. Where death leaves us judgment finds us and eternity holds us.
12“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
14Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right (or privilege to approach) to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
17The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
18I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
Adding to and taking away from the Scriptures are equally forbidden. The ones who have committed this crime of tampering with the Bible have generally professed to be Christians. Their names will not be “found written in the book of life,”2 even though they think they will be.
20He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
21The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
As we close this year let us pray that our family reading may prove a blessing to all of us. God grant that we may not read without profit, but may each one find Jesus in the Scriptures, as the merchant found the one pearl of great value “and sold all that he had and bought it.”3
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1 Revelation 22:20
2 From Revelation 20:12
3 Matthew 13:45-46
Year Two, December 31
Your Testimonies Are Wonderful1
Psalm 119:129-136; 145-152; 169-176
129 Your testimonies are wonderful;
therefore my soul keeps them.
Tertullian2 said, “I adore the fullness of the Scriptures.” It is good to adore the word of God, but it is even better to stand in awe of its authority and cheerfully obey its teachings.
130 The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.
131 I open my mouth and pant,
because I long for your commandments.
When God’s word really enters the soul, it creates a strong desire for more holiness. When the light of the Scriptures shines on our lives it may condemn, but when it lights up the soul it works to our salvation.
132 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
as is your way with those who love your name.
133 Keep steady my steps according to your promise,
and let no iniquity get dominion over me.
134 Redeem me from man’s oppression,
that I may keep your precepts.
When the unkindness of others makes it difficult for us to follow the Lord, the best thing we can do is to bring the situation before the Lord, because he is the defender of the poorly treated.
135 Make your face shine upon your servant,
and teach me your statutes.
136 My eyes shed streams of tears,
because people do not keep your law.
145 With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD!
I will keep your statutes.
146 I call to you; save me,
that I may observe your testimonies.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I hope in your words.
148 My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise.
149 Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;
O LORD, according to your justice give me life.
150 They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose;
they are far from your law.
151 But you are near, O LORD,
and all your commandments are true.
When enemies are near, our Great Friend is near too, and therefore we do not fear.
152 Long have I known from your testimonies
that you have founded them forever.
Our faith does not “go limping between two different opinions,”3 because the promises are unchanging and eternal.
169 Let my cry come before you, O LORD;
give me understanding according to your word!
170 Let my plea come before you;
deliver me according to your word.
171 My lips will pour forth praise,
for you teach me your statutes.
172 My tongue will sing of your word,
for all your commandments are right.
Those who are taught by the Holy Spirit love prayer, praise, and holy conversation. They are all mentioned here. Let our lips be full of them.
173 Let your hand be ready to help me,
for I have chosen your precepts.
174 I long for your salvation, O LORD,
and your law is my delight.
175 Let my soul live and praise you,
and let your rules help me.
176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
for I do not forget your commandments.
This long psalm closes in a humble and prayerful manner and the believer’s life-story will end in the same way. The Christian mourns over and confesses a thousand faults, faith sees that grace is still alive within the soul, and prayer pleads for divine mercy. Those who pray like this will finish their earthly life in the proper manner.
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1 Psalm 119:129
2 Tertullian (155-240). Christian theologian and writer from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa.
3 1 Kings 18:21
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